Professor Douglas Yuill retired from EPRC on 31 July 2010 after spending most of a distinguished career in regional economic policy at Strathclyde.
After graduating with undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from the University of Glasgow, he was a Lecturer in Applied Economics at Glasgow in the early 1970s before taking up a research position at the International Institute of Management, Wissenschaftszentrum, in Berlin, as part of a team of economists doing innovative work on comparative policy research in the field of regional development.
He returned to Strathclyde in 1978, initially as a senior researcher in the Centre for the Study of Public Policy, then becoming a co-founder and Director of the European Policies Research Centre (EPRC) in 1987. He became a Professor of European Regional Policy in 1991 and was Head of Department of EPRC for much of the 1992-2010 period.
During his time at Strathclyde, he built a research centre from a small team of researchers working on a single project to a thriving department, with major international research programmes funded by governments in more than 20 European countries and an unrivalled reputation across Europe for its research in the field of regional policy.
Douglas Yuill was one of the founders of the European Regional Policy Research Consortium (EoRPA), an international programme of comparative research on regional policy funded by government economics/business ministries and agencies from 10 European countries, which has now been running for more than three decades.
He also chaired many of the EoRPA 'Ross Priory Conferences' : an annual meeting-place for senior government officials in the field of regional development, from across Europe, to have informal and off-the-record discussions (on the model of Chatham House) on the future direction of policy.
In many respects, Douglas Yuill's lifelong work is an exemplar of the 'useful learning' for which Strathclyde University is renowned. It was motivated by a passion for understanding how governments can make a difference to economic and social development (especially in those regions suffering the greatest disadvantage), an uncompromising insistence on high standards of empirical research, and a commitment to academic research that has economic and social relevance.
Douglas Yuill's friends and colleagues at EPRC, and throughout the University, wish him all the best for a long, happy and fulfilling retirement!